Entry #10: Animal Crossing Across the Years

 

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    During the COVID era, the gaming industry saw a huge boom in sales as more people began to turn to video games for pastimes. A number of franchises grew in popularity, including Animal Crossing, finally giving the series of games the recognition it deserves. Its newest edition was released during the lockdown, getting many hooked on the ability to live out an (almost) normal life while being stuck indoors for the time being. You may have heard of or played the game yourself, as currently, Nintendo has sold about 46.45 million copies worldwide. This is a little over half of what the entire franchise has sold in total, making it the biggest Animal Crossing game to date. However, this huge expanse of the series means that many have likely not heard about the games that predate it, which is what I want to introduce you to today because I believe this timeless series deserves some more recognition.

    The first official Animal Crossing game was released over two decades ago in Japan, under the title "Dōbutsu no Mori," or in English, "Animal Forest." There were two releases of this game eight months apart in 2001, one for the Nintendo 64 and an updated version for the Nintendo Gamecube. An English version of the game was finished just nine months later in 2002, finally allowing us to have the first Animal Crossing experience in The States. This first installment was similar to the latest, though several notable things are missing from the game, like the ability to customize things with patterns, and iconic characters like Brewster the barman and Harriet the hairstylist. Despite this, the game retains most of the core aspects of the Animal Crossing series — fishing, catching insects, planting trees, gardening, home decorating, making friends with villagers, and most importantly, paying off your mortgage.

    The next game in the series isn't too dissimilar; in fact, it happens to be one of my favorites in the franchise in terms of its music. Animal Crossing: Wild World, as it's known in the US, was released for the Nintendo DS in 2005, giving us even more content that we hadn't seen prior. For starters, wireless Wi-Fi connection to other DSs allowed for players to go into one another's towns worldwide, making this the first Animal Crossing game where you could use multiplayer. Even more exciting, the new game added things like an expanded museum featuring a cafe, increased character customization, more interactive villagers, and the iconic Able Sisters that now run the tailor shop. All of this gave the game much more character, giving way for the next installment to be even more iconic.

    City Folk was my first Animal Crossing game and the one I remember the most fondly. Released in 2008, it adds an entirely new experience to it in the form of a city you can visit, and a perfect atmosphere that works to combine all the games that came before it. Characters previously considered special visitors now have permanent spaces in the city, allowing you to visit them any time during the day before their shops close, and new characters that walk around the city plaza for you to interact with. The music is comparable to the prior games, giving it an ambiance that makes it a truly relaxing pastime.

    The final full game we had for a while was New Leaf, released in 2012 for the Nintendo 3Ds, along with the updated version of it in 2016 called "Welcome Amiibo" which introduced the use of Nintendo's amiibo figures and cards in the game. The city is gone in this game, replaced with the "main street," and a new role as mayor is given to the player that allows even more customizability in the town. You can build bridges, paths, and as you advance, even new buildings like the tailor's or the cafe. The game also introduces the iconic character "Isabel," who appears in all future games and serves as almost a mascot alongside Tom Nook. Another nice feature of this new game is a tree as the town centerpiece that grows each year, aging with the player as you continue to play the game, day by day. There's even more content in this game that encourages daily play so that hopefully you'll be able to build your town into something beautiful.

    From there, before New Horizons, we were given a multitude of spin-off games. From Happy Home Designer, which focused on the decorating aspect of New Leaf, to Pocket Camp, which is essentially a mobile app version of Animal Crossing. There was also Amiibo Festival and Animal Crossing Plaza, though those were among the least popular games in the franchise due to one being an Animal Crossing Mario Party, and the other being more of a social platform than a game. Despite this, in the next 4 years, the series continued to grow in popularity, especially with the announcement of New Horizons in late 2018, the anticipation for the next big game festered excitement among new and old fans.

    Finally, in 2020, the most popular Animal Crossing game yet was released. New Horizons was, of all the games, one that gave the most freedom when it came to decorating. Things were also released differently than in the previous games, with new major updates coming periodically that introduced new things, such as memorable characters and new gameplay features. In this game, you can customize almost everything about your town, from the placement of buildings to the rivers and mountains. This has allowed people to build extremely detailed and complicated islands, which is a worthy sacrifice for what this game is missing from the prior games. There was also an expansion to the game, paying homage to Happy Home Designer for New Leaf. Happy Home Paradise is like the new and updated version of the prior home-design spin-off of Animal Crossing, allowing for even more possibilities for the fun of decorating in the game.

    Whether you or somebody you know was introduced to Animal Crossing through New Horizons, or if you've never heard of this game series at all, I would encourage you to check it out on any console you might have. From the newest game to the oldest, I believe they're all worth playing at least once so you get to experience the relaxing atmosphere of the older games, and the creative endeavors in the newer ones. It doesn't matter where or when you start either, because Animal Crossing is a game you're allowed to play on your own time, and you'll be able to pick it up and put it down whenever you please. Your choice should depend on what you want to experience because there's plenty of variety across the versions while keeping the core the same. No matter what you want to do, Animal Crossing will be there as a game you can play to relax.

Entry #9: The Controversy of Animal Welfare

     Animal welfare has always been a highly debated topic, with people arguing whether or not it's inhumane to confine livestock to small lots and give them unnutritious feed made specifically to make them as large as possible before slaughter. Many don't care how the food gets to their plate; the one thing that matters is the cost and efficiency. They find it easy to turn a blind eye to what goes on before the convenient pre-packaged meat they pick out from the grocery store because of the modern-day disconnect we have from the animals we eat.

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    The debate over the humane treatment of animals in agriculture has always interested me. It's a discussion of morals and ethics, with opinions ranging from keeping things the way they are so we can sustain the consumer ease of mass production, to the idea that we should completely demolish the animal agriculture industry as a whole for the sake of the creatures being eaten. I believe there’s an equilibrium that can be reached between the desire for convenience and the concern for animals.

    The main culprit lies in the system we use to harvest meat. The Humane Society has a webpage dedicated to informing about the negatives of animal farming, showcasing the harm it causes to not just the animals in the system but the consumers who eat the things they produce. It sheds light on the methods used to mass produce meat and brings up a lot of things that most consumers don’t think about or know when it comes to the choices they make at the grocery store.

    However, the question still lingers; would people care if It was just the animals suffering? One of the biggest reasons people push for better living conditions for the animals we eat is because the way it is now makes it rife with diseases and unhealthy for us, but what if those things didn't affect us? Would people still be alright with the treatment of animals in industrial agriculture?

    I find these questions important to dig into the ethics of mass-raising livestock for slaughter, as well as the large disconnect consumers have from agriculture as a whole and the way it connects to capitalism. There's a good, however dark, book that I think works as a strange but decent commentary towards capitalism and factory farming called Tender Is the Flesh. It takes place in a world where cannibalism has been legalized after all the animal meat was contaminated. It replaces the animals in factory farms with people who are described as being 'specifically bred for consumption.' The novel gives reason to question the ethics of our current system, and I think it may change people's point of view when it comes to how we farm our animals.

    I believe it would be good for everyone to give this subject more thought. With more antibiotic-resistant diseases on the rise and the waste from these farms piling up, it's not something that can be ignored forever. I urge you to question things and look deep into yourself. The sooner you figure out where you stand, the sooner action can be taken.

Entry #8: Mouthwashing: Things Are Not as They Seem

 

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    Nowadays, the video game horror genre is saturated with a mountain of indie titles — some with interesting stories and captivating visuals, others following common cliches and using cheap jumpscares for some easy entertainment. This large influx of games means that it takes a lot for a single one to stand out or be noticed by a greater amount of people, which is why I'd like to bring attention to a game that's grown in popularity lately due to its unique story and uncommon way of narrating it.

    Mouthwashing is a first-person indie psychological horror game developed by Wrong Organ and published by Critical Reflex on September 26th, 2024. The game features a nonlinear storytelling style, and its visual horror is almost surreal, like the developer's only other game, How Fish Is Made. It follows the five crew members stuck aboard the freighter spaceship "Tulpar" after a crash on what was meant to be a routine delivery, leaving them stranded against an asteroid out in space. Their resources are dwindling, and things look bleak as the months drag on. The crew, in the beginning, blames their Captain Curly for the accident, spending their days trying to figure out what to do with the time they have left.

    In the present, you play as the honorary Captain of the Tulpar, Jimmy, interacting with the others on the ship while you struggle to figure out how to run the crew. Giving Curly his medicine when the ship's nurse, Anya, can't stomach the noises he makes, trying to manage the mechanic, Swansea, and his underling, Daisuke, as they drink the mouthwash the ship was transporting to cope with the situation. Between scenes and time skips, you are shown glimpses into the past, allowing you to play as Captain Curly before the crash takes place and leaves him almost limbless. This is done to slowly give you an idea of what really happened that day on the Tulpar, up to the day it happened, and what the consequences were. The nonlinear style of the story may be confusing to some, but if you pay close attention to the times stated before each scene and the hints given in the dialogue, you should be able to piece things together. It gives the game an air of mystery up until the climax, where it shows what really happened, and makes the horrifying scenes that come after you learn so much more intense.

    The visuals are inspired by early games for the original PlayStation, being pixelated and low-poly, which compliments the glitchy transitions between scenes and the retro style of the environment. It also makes the much more graphic scenes that appear later on in the game a bit easier to swallow, although the simple nature of what's going on may still make some feel queasy when playing. This style has grown in popularity recently for indie games, but the way Mouthwashing utilizes it is something special and shows a great sense of art direction.

    If you are a lover of horror games or just love a good psychological horror story, I would highly encourage you to check out Mouthwashing — as long as you can handle a few eye-straining visuals, the low-graphic gore, and the disturbing nature of the later part of the game. Whether you buy it from Steam (only $12.99!) or watch a playthrough of it on YouTube, I would incentivize you to pay close attention, to really soak up all of the details this game has to offer and come up with your own theories and ideas about things. That's half the fun of psychological horror games, where you just have to sit and think to understand, and another reason why this game stands out among many.

Entry #7: Fresh, a Look into Industrial Agriculture

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     As the population in America grows, we keep looking for increasingly convenient and cheap ways to keep up with it. From things like toys and technology to essentials like food and clothes, people have sought out ways to get the most of what they can in a short amount of time, even if it means prioritizing quantity over quality. The 2009 movie "Fresh" aims to give us a deep dive into one of these categories, showing us how the industrial revolution has affected the farming and food industry as a whole. Throughout the film, we are offered a look into numerous different kinds of farms, from animal to crop, and corporate to family. We get to see and hear firsthand what industrial farming has done to the quality and longevity of our systems.

    Nowadays, much of the food we consume is filled with all kinds of chemicals, pesticides, and antibiotics. Whether that be the meat we consume or something processed like cereal. Not only that but since the 1960's, the nutrients in our food has depleted as well. These are both facts given to us by the film before they explain the reasons as to why, and show us some of the bigger issues related to the industrial farming industry.

    In order to maximize profits, companies want to make the most amount of food that they can in the least amount of time, and they don't care how. This means densely filled cages and lots stuffed to the brim with animals, running rife with disease and pumped full of cheaply produced feed to make them grow bigger faster. Fields are covered with pesticides and artificial fertilizer because the soil has run dry of nutrients. These problems are all caused by the standards of industrial farming, and family farms that do things the way nature intended — planting compatible crops together, simulating a more natural environment for the animals that copies their "cycle" in nature — show that it's much healthier for the plants, animals, and earth and produces much better results than factory farming can.

    Many Americans are extremely separated from the process of where their food comes from. They don't stop to think about it, they only focus on what's in front of them. Most won't question it, or they go as far as to say they don't want to know where their food came from, whether it be from a cow or crop. This mindset is what allows the problem of industrial farming to continue, and it's something we need to wake up from. It's important to know how we get our food and where it comes from because it affects more than just us — it affects the earth too. The current method for mass food production is unsustainable and unhealthy, and more Americans need to realize this so we can work together to make a change.

    The film mentions something very important near the end; voting with your dollar. What this means is that to make the change we want to make, we need to put our money where our mouth is. In this circumstance, that would mean looking into where you buy your food from and making sure to buy from the most sustainable source. Doing this means your money is funding these industries to continue producing and giving less to the unethical factory farms, which in turn, sends a message about what you want to happen. 

    It's never too late to make a change, so start now. Watch the film and do your own research. Learn more about the effects that industrial farming has on the environment and the products it creates, and start voting with your dollar. Even if you think you won't make a difference, one person is still a step to many more, and if enough band together, we can all initiate a change.

Entry #6: Collections of collections

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    Most people have a collection of sorts. Unless you're someone who is extremely dedicated to minimalism, you might have one too. There are all sorts of collections out there, ranging from museums or historical collections to more personal ones that may include things like cards or coins. The main point is that collecting is a huge part of our human nature, and most of us do it, whether intended or not.

   

    Collections are important in both our personal lives and the lives of those in the future, especially in the case of museums, exhibits, or archives. Things like those span generations, and continue to teach people long after we're gone. For example, collections of dinosaur bones in museums teach us a lot about the past, and seeing them up close and personal is an educational experience. Collections can also include things like antiques, which, if placed together and dated correctly, can teach us a lot about how people before us lived. These are some of the most commonly known collections, alongside art museums, aquariums, and the like. They're all collections with the benefit of educating us on their content, but can also be something for people just to enjoy.

    Aside from archival collections are some that are made purely for the joy of collecting. Take, for example, the largest rubber duck collection in the world, consisting of over 5,600 unique rubber ducks. This woman started her collection in 1996 as a way to decorate her bathroom and now has a full room consisting of just rubber ducks. While of course, this is on the more extreme side of collecting things, many people have similar collections consisting of objects that share the same use or category. Think for example, things like coins, mugs, stuffed animals, CDs, and figurines. All of these are common items that people love to collect, whether it be for sentimental value or just because it brings them joy.

    Collections range in type, size, importance, and monetary value, so there's something for everyone. Even if what you collect is different kinds of coins you find on the side of the road, that's still a collection. And as an avid collector of many different kinds of things, I think there's lots of joy to be found in doing it. Whether it be a series of objects you can complete or an endless abundance of one specific type, I think collecting is worthwhile to those that it makes happy. Being able to appreciate what you've already gotten and what there is left to get is an exciting feat that can be a motivation for many. Collecting is a behavior that's stuck with humans since the early ages and will continue to stick for eras to come, and I think everyone should be more appreciative of such a simple joy.

Entry #5: Allstate's Mayhem Bear

 

    Allstate has a series of humorous commercials that they use to advertise their different kinds of insurance labeled as "mayhem." This series shows a multitude of different accidents that would all be covered by some kind of insurance, most often using the same actor causing the accident, playing into the role of "mayhem." Today I'd like to focus on one of the commercials and explain how it's a good example of what all of these commercials are trying to achieve.

    The commercial titled "Mayhem Bear" begins with the main character in this series of ads walking through the woods, his face covered in the bandages and scrapes that are supposed to represent how he is "mayhem," consistently being the cause of or being hurt in accidents. He approached a car, explaining how he's meant to represent a hungry bear that had just come out of hibernation, ready to take some unsuspecting hikers' food from their car. He starts to shake and sniff the car, eventually tugging on and pulling the entire door car to get the door off to get to the food inside. Once he does, he rips open the cooler and starts digging into the food as if he were a bear, all while he explains that your regular cut-rate insurance wouldn't pay for an accident similar to what's being shown. After a small cut in the footage, he's outside of the van, taking a large swipe to take off one of the side-view mirrors as he approaches the camera, saying it would be better to switch to Allstate to be better protected from "mayhem like him."

    The symbolism in this ad is straightforward, saying that Allstate is a better insurance option for protection than other cut-rate options the viewer might have. The ad is humorous in how it uses a human to represent a bear breaking into some hikers' cars, possibly indicating that it's a somewhat ridiculous and unsuspecting situation to find yourself in, and one that some insurance companies won't cover because of that. Other ads in this series are similar in this way, showing how tiny mistakes can lead to unsuspecting damage to property, things that we overlook as regular humans. In this ad, the simple act of leaving the car window cracked open led to the bear finding the food, and the car was severely damaged as a result.

    Mistakes happen, and these ads are trying to show how Allstate understands that. They're trying to connect with us lightheartedly to show us that even if other insurance companies wouldn't cover any unsuspecting accidents or simple mistakes, Allstate would. With that, you can see how they're trying to influence the viewer, who is likely on a different insurance, to switch to Allstate because they would cover them better and protect them from mayhem.

Entry #4: Wolf Children: An Animated Tale About Parenthood

    In recent years, Japanese animated media has become widely popular in the West. It began with now famously known titles like Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon, but has now expanded into a love for the medium itself by many. Especially during and after COVID-19, Japanese anime became a mainstream form of entertainment that many had access to through streaming platforms. The widespread love for this media has allowed it to blossom and take on many different forms — from TV shows to feature-length films, this medium has taken on many different forms of portrayal and genre. Often, movies in this medium stem from already-existing TV shows, either to capture a bigger chunk of the storyline than it would in episodic format or to show a side story about one of the main characters' adventures. On occasion, however, some anime movies will be either entirely original or come as an adaptation of a one-shot manga — or Japanese comics, for those who don't know. There are many amazing stand-alone animated films that exist in Japanese media, and I'd like to introduce you to one of my favorites today.

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    Wolf Children is a 2012 Japanese fantasy drama film about the journey of a single mother raising her two half-wolf half-human children after the death of her similarly half-wolf lover, showcasing the challenges she has to face trying to raise two children that can turn into wolves in a moments notice. The film is a bittersweet representation of both the challenges of single-parenthood and the hardships of raising children that grow into their own separate paths in life. 

    The main character, Hana, shows a beautiful representation of struggling with motherhood in a harsh world. She struggles to keep her children quiet at night in her small apartment while neighbors complain and berate her when they suspect hearing dogs in her room, while also struggling with the simple fact of where she should take her children. She's unable to take them to the doctor for fear they'll be found out, but can also hardly take them outside because of her daughter's inability to understand that she needs to hide her half-wolf self. 

    In the end, for the betterment of her children, she decides to move to the countryside with what little funds she has left, buying an old abandoned house for cheap to fix it up and live there with her children, where she feels they'll finally have the freedom to discover themselves and decide who they want to be. From there, we get to watch her children, Yuki and Ame, go through the aches and pains of growing up, eventually going to school and figuring out who they are and where they fit in, deciding whether they want to be wolf or human.

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    Without spoiling too much, I think this film is beautifully bittersweet, depicting all the pain of living in a world where it's difficult to fit in and find your place. Even if you're not a regular fan of anime, I would urge you to give this film a watch. Especially if you happen to be the parent, because I think this movie shows too well the trial of raising children and the grief that comes with eventually letting them go. It's definitely worthy of a watch if you enjoy the beauty and love that comes with parenthood.

Entry #3: The Journey of a Mint

 

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    Small things can take you on large journeys.

    For me, it's a toasty fall evening. My days have been a blur up to now, my brain divided up to focus on everything at once, so I wind up accomplishing nothing at all. The week ends uneventfully, and I'm ready to start it all again after the last meal of the day at the local Olive Garden. The fettuccini alfredo is a good comfort meal; it's warm in my stomach and easy on the stress-riddled brain. As I slurp up the last noodle, wiping the remaining alfredo sauce off my face, its creamy texture and savory, cheesy flavor remains on my tongue. As much as I enjoy it, it's a taste better left in the moment than one remaining on the ride home. So comes my favorite part of dining out at this restaurant, to flush it all away and make my mouth feel anew.

    It begins with a simple opening of the small rectangle of tin foil, the tiny paper crumpling between my fingers as I carefully unfold it and reveal more of the printed restaurant logo patterned across. The half-green half-brown square I remove from it is my refuge, the very thing that will save me from the sticky feeling of savory food that's overstayed its welcome in my throat. It's small for what large effect it brings and feels soft and buttery as I pop it into my mouth and let it melt on my tongue. All at once, the memories rush back to me, and the tasty treat throws me back to a better time that was forgotten.

    In the back of my mind, I'm eight again. A small child with a bedazzled Fourth-of-July t-shirt and tattered jean shorts, running around the tall itchy grass with dirt-covered tennis shoes on my aunt's farm. My brother is only five, but he runs with me, chasing their golden retriever around until the sun sets and the mosquitos come out. The adults call us over to the fresh bonfire, handing both of us some chewy smores that warm our mouths while the cold air tries to claim us. The chocolate is melted and we make a small mess, but our mother only smiles and wipes our mouths, telling us to put some jackets on before we go off to play again.

    The finale of my meal tastes just like it did to go out into the cold again, into the chilly summer night as I take a sip from my water to spread the crisp flavor around my mouth, fully masking the dinner I'd eaten prior. I consider having another, just to experience that feeling again, but slip the second complimentary treat into my pocket for later. After that, I allow a few moments to relax in the warm glow of the hanging light above my table before the waiter returns, bearing my bill in hand. It's a small price to pay to start the next week off fresh. When I finally leave, I find myself a few dollars shorter, but a heart much fuller. 

Entry #2: Parrots as Pets

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    Have you ever seen somebody with a pet bird, often a parrot with colorful feathers that makes funny noises? Maybe you've seen them in viral videos, or at a pet store near you, waiting to be brought home to a loving family. Maybe you even know somebody who owns or has owned a bird, considering that roughly 6% of the 90 million pet-owning households in the US have at least one as a pet. That's 5.7 million homes with birds. Have you ever thought about getting one yourself? I know I certainly have, and I even own 3 of them now. They're cute companions to have, and all those viral videos might have you convinced they'd be the perfect pet. I mean, why wouldn't they be? They can talk, and you can teach them tricks and have lots of fun with them, so what downsides could there possibly be to owning one? That's what I'm here to tell you.

    Owning a bird and taking care of it well is no easy feat. They're messy, destructive, noisy, and like to chew on almost anything they can get their beaks on. They require consistent upkeep, ranging from weekly to bi-weekly cage cleanings and swapping out all their toys every 4 weeks. They'll throw food everywhere, get feathers and dust all over, and poop wherever they feel like, including outside of the cage. Taking them out is non-optional if you'd like your feathered companion to stay healthy and fit, so you need to be prepared for the chaos that comes with them. Even the only truly domestic birds — pigeons — are messy. They can't help it, it's only instinct, so you'll need to be ready to clean it all up for them.

    There's a lot you'll need to be prepared to give up if you want to own a bird. From small things like candles and non-stick pans that are toxic to birds to time and money you'll need to give to care for them. Vet bills can be even more expensive for exotic pets like parrots because of the different license a vet needs to specialize in exotic animal care, and birds tend to have a myriad of physical, emotional, and hormonal problems in captivity that require medical attention. You'll need to keep up with your pet's yearly expenses with food and toys too. Just the starting cost to buy the supplies for a bird can run up to $1800, depending on the cage size and kind of food and toys. The bigger the bird, usually the more expensive, and that goes for the birds and all their supplies. Some macaws go for thousands!

    It's also known that most of the time, the bigger the bird, the louder they are as well. Even the quietest birds can go up to 65-70 decibels, which is about the equivalent of how loud a washing machine can get. That may not seem loud, but more often than not, birds need fellow bird companions to stay healthy  — and if you have a whole flock of them trying to be louder than one another, it'll fill the whole room. It's hard to get them to stop, too, especially when they don't understand why we want them to. Birds have wildly different personalities as well, so you could always end up with a conure that doesn't like to get any louder than a finch, or a budgie that tries to be louder than a cockatoo.

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    If you truly believe you want to own a parrot, this isn't to discourage you. This is just a warning to those who may not have what it takes or may not have the time or energy to give a feathered friend what they need to thrive. Parrots show more intelligence than the average toddler, so getting a parrot is often like bringing a child home — which many people aren't prepared for. On average, 85% of birds are rehomed multiple times in their lives. Whether this be due to situational changes or simply the overestimation of one's ability to care for such a high-maintenance animal, it's all the same to the poor birds that have to go through it. Often, larger birds will begin to pluck out their own feathers from the stress of switching homes, especially because they become so attached to the person taking care of them that it can be difficult to switch. If you want to own one of these magnificent animals, you need to make sure you can care for them properly, so they can thrive with you. If you truly believe you can handle all of what I've said, and you have a strong desire to own one still  — then I encourage you to do some more of your own research to discover more about them and learn the depths of what needs to be done to care for them. If anyone reading this does end up with a feathered friend someday  —  make sure you treat them well. If you do, they'll be a friend for a lifetime, sometimes even longer.

Entry #1: The Art of Miniatures

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    Have you ever played with dolls as a kid? If not, have you played with Legos? Perhaps a set of them, that included a building, or a car? Both of those are examples of miniatures. Whether you build them yourself or simply like to collect and arrange them all, it's all part of the hobby. I discovered the miniature hobbyist community years ago and fell in love, and now I'd like to share it with you too! It's a very versatile hobby with many different ways of participating, and I want to introduce you to it and show you some of the reasons it's so loved — maybe I'll convince you to love it too!

    The hobby of miniatures is flexible in that there are many different options to choose from when getting started. That's not to say you must branch out eventually into other areas, but it can be hard not to when there are just so many possibilities of things you can do! For instance, I began this hobby when I was younger, simply by collecting tiny pieces of furniture that I liked from different local hobby and craft stores. Eventually, I tried to make a dollhouse out of cardboard for all the furniture to fit in, and it turned out rather nice! That being said, most people do tend to make their dollhouses out of wood — but that's another thing I find so great about this hobby. You can make miniatures out of just about anything. Whether it's made out of nicely carved wood and wired like a real house, or cardboard with cheap fairy lights and furniture made from knick-knacks and scraps, they're all miniatures, and equally deserving of love for the craftsmanship behind them.

You don't have to build things all on your own though. In the last few years, many different stores have popped up, including ones like RoLife and CuteBee, that sell premade kits for building your own tiny house or room dioramas! They range from 1/12 to 1/24 scale like many dollhouses do, and even differ from having plastic furniture to furniture that you make completely on your own from the pre-cut supplies they give you. It requires a lot of patience to create, and lots of dedication and hard work, but being able to see the final product all lit up nicely and cleaned up well is a feeling like no other. 

Local Hobby stores will occasionally sell those premade kits as well, but if you happen to find a local small business that specializes in miniatures — like Auntie Em's in downtown Glendale, Arizona, or Ms Peggies Place in San Diego, California — you can find so much more. Those tend to sell kits for furniture and houses, as well as all the pieces you need to build them yourself or to mix and match on your own. And if you aren't feeling up to it, you could always buy the premade dollhouse furniture they usually have, or even an entire dollhouse to house all of it! They tend to run on the more expensive side, but I believe it's worth it for the quality and care put into the craft.

When it's all said and done after, you can either sit back and admire your work displayed on a shelf or table, or begin a new project to add onto or even improve on your last one, both of which I think are some of the best parts of creating or collecting miniatures. That wonderful feeling of knowing you built or put something together, and learning from the trial and error that came along with it is all part of the passion for the hobby, and it's something I hope everyone who decides to give the miniature hobby a try feels. Maybe it could even feel so fulfilling that it turns into something more. The only way to know is to give it a try.

Entry #0: Blogs & All of Their Differences

    Everyone with access to the internet has, most likely, stumbled upon a blog. According to Wikipedia, the simple definition of what a blog is "an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries." This stands true for many different kinds of blogs, whether they be professional, personal, or somewhere in between. There's a blog for everybody out there, on each side of the spectrum. Most people even find them without meaning to, usually after searching for things like recipes, recent news and events, or lifestyle tips and tutorials. Usually, a plethora of different blogs will appear in results to answer questions you have, which means it's harder to avoid them than you'd think. From sports blogs to crafting, or informational to opinionated, all types of blogs exist to suit your needs and questions. Even if you believe your interests are niche or limited, there will still be one for you.

image taken from onbetterliving.com

     A prime example of a blog that you could happen across just by chance is Better Living. It's run by a group of people, who post a variety of things that can be summed up as "traveling, food, home, and lifestyle," just like it's stated under their header. This is the kind of blog I'm more partial to, as it consists of lots of different kinds of information that I might find useful or interesting, like lifestyle improvement tips and recipes. Not to mention the blog is also neatly organized with all the separating tabs on top for different topics, as well as its nice grid format with big bold titles. You can tell the blog runners want their blog to be easily accessible and navigable, and I think it's a nice touch. This is the sort of blog you would come across looking for things like recipes or home life tips, making it the kind you might not come to regularly, but still find helpful with specific tasks or ideas. That also makes it more versatile and open to a large demographic of people, whether you're there for all their tips, tricks, and information, or maybe you just want to see what the Top 20 Probiotic Foods to Help Your Gut are.

image taken from people.com

    On the other side of the spectrum, there are blogs like People. This is a more popular blog that you may have seen before, or have come across while looking at the latest celebrity gossip, which is one of the big things this blog is about. It's not exactly my cup of tea, as someone interested in celebrities less than the next person may be, but someone who is may be overjoyed to see all the different articles and tabs they have on their home page alone. There are many articles with eye-catching, click-baiting titles on the first page alone, so there's plenty for the local celebrity enthusiast to scroll and read through, which is exactly why it's set up the way it is. To keep people reading. Although, the site does have other kinds of articles, including things on food, home, travel, and sports, which still promotes an extremely diverse audience that isn't as keen on the drama. They try to have a little bit of something for everyone, which is a lot more than many blogs that tend to be focused more on a single subject do. 

    Not all blogs are for everyone, but I personally believe there is at least one blog out there for everyone. There's such a variety of blogs from all around the world that there's something for everyone to enjoy. And if you struggle to find one you like yourself, you could always create your own. That's one of the beautiful things about blogs, their differences and variety. There are no guidelines for what a blog must be, so they're something you can have fun with if you don't plan to go the professional route. Overall, they're a great avenue for people who just want to have fun, people who want to inform, or people who want to discuss their interests and opinions. It's a versatile outlet that almost anyone can do.